I think so, with ESPN.com's latest feature baseball article on the website by Jayson Stark. It's pretty lengthy and it goes into discussion why there are a lot less homers. They polled 29 people in MLB and only 12 said the #1 was because of steroids (or lack of using). I'd like to know what the other 17 were thinking, because these other reasons "injures", "better pitching", "weather" are plain stupid. Less steroid use in the major is the great majority of the cause of this and I don't see how anyone else thinks otherwise. Leave it to the great journalists at ESPN to try and imply there are other reasons.

MRKARNO

06-04-2005, 11:27 AM

Less steroid use in the major is the great majority of the cause of this and I don't see how anyone else thinks otherwise.

There's no way to be entirely sure of that. There have not been many studies regarding how much steroid use actually helps baseball players except to make them heal from injuries more quickly.

Now, that's not to say that other performance-enhancing drugs did not help the HR records. There are other, non-steroid drugs that may be helping players a lot more than steroids. The MLB does not currently test for all of them.

Two things that many people like to forget:

1. Pitchers have/had access to the exact same performance-enhancing drugs that hitters did and many reports suggest that they used them in nearly an equal proportion to hitters. It was not just random that Juan Rincon was the highest-profile player to receive a suspension for performance enhancing drugs. The net effect might be neutralized as pitchers are throwing faster and getting hurt less, while hitters could hit the ball farther.

2. All steroids are performance-enhancing drugs, but not all performance-enhancing drugs are steroids. These two seem to get bunched up as being one in the same, but steroids are just a class of performance enhancing drugs.

FarWestChicago

06-04-2005, 12:01 PM

There's no way to be entirely sure of that. There have not been many studies regarding how much steroid use actually helps baseball players except to make them heal from injuries more quickly. :nandrolone

I love you, man!

Nellie_Fox

06-05-2005, 02:04 AM

2. All steroids are performance-enhancing drugs, but not all performance-enhancing drugs are steroids. These two seem to get bunched up as being one in the same, but steroids are just a class of performance enhancing drugs.Actually, anabolic steroids are performance enhancing. Catabolic steroids, or corticosteroids, are anti-inflamitories that are not performance enhancing. The asthma inhaler you or a friend might us is a steroid, but not anabolic. Cortisone shots, used to reduce inflamation, is a steroid, but not anabolic.

Banix12

06-05-2005, 02:28 AM

I've been more interested in the various conspiracy theories about the homerun loss than the actual reason.

I think my favorite so far is one I was told by a buddy about the league "de-juicing" the balls to make them harder to hit out of the yard in an attempt to trick the public into thinking the testing was working.

TomParrish79

06-05-2005, 03:11 AM

Last few years with No Steroid Policy- Ball jumping out of the park.

This year with Steroid Testing- Homerun numbers are low (and by low, I mean what was used to be considered normal before the majority of the league started juicing and killing the ball)

You cant convince me that its not because of steroids.

But we all have different opinions.

Someone should ask Bret Boone what he thinks the reason is.

FarWestChicago

06-05-2005, 03:23 AM

But we all have different opinions.Yes, but MRKARNO should be very careful when buying property. :redneck

MRKARNO

06-05-2005, 10:55 AM

Actually, anabolic steroids are performance enhancing. Catabolic steroids, or corticosteroids, are anti-inflamitories that are not performance enhancing. The asthma inhaler you or a friend might us is a steroid, but not anabolic. Cortisone shots, used to reduce inflamation, is a steroid, but not anabolic.

Good catch. Sorry for my misinformation.

DumpJerry

06-05-2005, 11:05 AM

The real reason is the grass is too long (or was it too short?) at the Urinal. Zambrano hit it right on the head......